Greater Books
Nearly all "great books" lists, canons, reading plans, etc., emphasize fiction—resulting in a significant number of non-fiction works of the century past that one may expect to find in such lists but does not. Thus presented here are selections of Twentieth-Century verity (i. e non-fiction) works by authors not found (so far, at least) in the 47 lists compiled and collated at Greater Books, as well as additional works by authors included at Greater Books (as shown in its master list) but for whom those included works arguably are unrepresentative. Those verity works already noted by the 47 listmakers are included here too, to allow for easier comparison; they are the italicized items. Of these works, those that I would include in this list if they were not already listed are not crossed out. I have made the additional selections based on consulting general reviews of the major academic disciplines, reading essays in the New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, Harper's Magazine, the Nation, the Atlantic, and similar periodicals, noting works cited by authors as significant influences or turning points in the discussion of major issues, and more broadly an author's popularity, notoriety, or combination of the two.
Tags indicating an author's genre or academic discipline are seen next to his name. Those who worked in English or other language departments have the LITERATURE tag applied; those in Political Science departments have POLITICS or HISTORY or both—whichever seems appropriate. These tags are not only limited in number but also, in the case of authors who pursued multifaceted careers or when applied to co-authored works, may only apply to the works in question. Links to the authors' Wikipedia entries are also included; to be added are other relevant links, such as to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
Bibliographical notes are provided when needed to identify either, or both, the original version of a work and its final form; in some cases, such notes should be present but are not yet.